I’ve decided to make these real time observations of branding blunders/negative brand association individual posts instead of putting them all together. This latest one is a real gem.
Essentially it is an argument between the British meat industry and the World Cancer Research Fund about the the dangers (or not) of red meat. The article is littered with negative words such as confusing, cancer, nightmare, death, bitter, row and more. To the right (and above) the article is an ad selling Dell computers. You can read the full article here but of course the advertisers may change
The execution of the ad is good. Readers can quickly and easily identify the brand and there is a seamless call to action.
But I’d like to know why Dell is advertising next to such a negative article. How does Dell buy these ads? Have they considered where the ads may be placed? Do they book a specific number of spots and choose the location or does the website decide where the ad goes?
If you are a brand and considering advertising online, make sure you determine what sort of articles the ads can be placed alongside otherwise you may be associated with death, cancer, arguements and so on. Probably not what you intended.
Any thoughts?
brandconsultantasia.com 
This seems to be a growing problem with more and more automated advertising followers, trailing you as you leave one site and enter another. It may be nothing to do with the BBc site that is throwing the Dell ad in place, but those other (and hopefully more positive) articles you have seen before.
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Hi John, thanks for the comment.
I hope you are right. Certainly the ads are generally Malaysia relevant although there are plenty of generic ads as you can see from my earlier post on the subject.
I also think there are other reasons. Such as clients going direct to sites and making global buys because they are cheap with plenty of reach but little relevance. We’re also seeing this with TV. The trouble is, because the client is buying the space/time as a commodity, the cheap price comes with a catch, as always. That catch in this particular case is little or no control of placement.
Media companies are also slashing prices to try and stay in business and lack of revenue has seen them cut heads or lower the bar when recruiting. Ultimately the ads won’t work and the media houses will be blamed.
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